Life and Death and Life

by OWAIN GLYN EVANS

The dead leaves crumbling in between her toes told her everything would be all right even without her grandfather. Autumn had always been her season of learning, his season of teaching – how to soak conkers in vinegar, why Halloween is not about sweets, what the next school year will bring. But now he taught her something new, something unexpected. A cruel but necessary last lesson this autumn: nature gives, and nature takes away.

She’d be okay.